


Santa's Dragon

by Kireii-yume (kireii_yume)



Series: Kireii-Yume's Christmas Advent Calendar! [24]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Gen, I honestly can't be bothered to tag all the other characters, just assume like most of them are mentioned, or all the other ships, santa au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 18:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9000952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireii_yume/pseuds/Kireii-yume
Summary: Cherche takes it upon herself to bring some Christmas cheer to the disadvantaged children of the Shepherds.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Hi all! This is a fic for stripperannie, who is absolutely amazing! Hope you enjoy some Cherche Santa AU!
> 
> This takes place in the original timeline, where Grima is taking over.

Cherche saw how all of her friends’ children were suffering, especially after everything that had been happening. They’d all forgotten a time when they didn’t have to worry about their parents coming home alive, when they didn’t have to wonder where their next meal would come from or pray that today was not the day that Grima would come destroy their villages. They deserved one authentic childhood experience. Sure, many of them were around thirteen, but an authentic childhood experience was necessary anyway. Some of them didn’t even have parents anymore, they deserved at least a moment of happiness.

Every single one of them had been told of the legend of Santa Claus, a benevolent spirit who flew around, giving gifts to children. But in their memory, he’d never managed to get to any of their houses, because they’d been old enough to form memories at about the time that everything started quickly going to hell. A few of them had held onto hope that he’d come when things got better, but nothing ever really did. So nights stayed up waiting for Santa Claus inevitably ended in disappointment and a reminder that their lives were quickly going downhill, with no end in sight. Cherche intended to change that. 

So, after a year of saving every penny she could, Cherche loaded up a massive basket with a few small things. Extra violin rosin and strings for Brady, a dress for Severa, a book full of heroes for Owain, a book of pickup lines for Inigo, an illustrated fairy tale book for Cynthia, a science book for Laurent, a fluffy blanket for Yarne (he loved them for one reason or another), a few new hair ribbons for Nah, a stuffed toy for Morgan, an armor cleaning kit for Kjelle, a sketchbook for Lucina, and a small toy wyvern that Cherche had made herself for Gerome. They barely fit into the basket, but they’d have to. And they weren’t much—everything was used or refurbished or handmade—but hopefully it would be something. Cherche called Minerva over and tied the burden to her tail very gently. “I know, sweetheart, it’s strange, but everyone needs a good Christmas!” Minerva looked at her skeptically. “You want little Gerome to be happy, right?” Minerva cocked her head. “Of course you do. He loves you. He’ll fly with you when he’s big enough but now you have to bring him Christmas cheer, okay?” After a small hesitation, Minerva nodded, allowing Cherche to tie the basket onto her tail. “Thanks, Minervykins! Let’s go on a night flight!” Minerva seemed to grin as Cherche climbed atop her back, a lantern in one hand and the reins in another. One gentle pull of the reins, and they were off.

The crisp air was already making Cherche’s cheeks glow a gentle pink, and her ears were starting to sting, unprotected by her tied up hair, but her heart was racing and she adored every minute of it. Flying a wyvern without the stifling responsibility of battle was the most freeing experience she could imagine. It served as a catharsis, an escape, a thought that she could fly away from her problems and escape everything. Her worries seemed so small when viewed from the back of a wyvern, above the world. The experience was thoroughly healing, and she wouldn’t trade it for everything. A glance back told Cherche that she didn’t have to worry about the basket, so the wind coaxed a laugh from her, something that hadn’t happened since the war began. It was incredible. So much so that she almost didn’t want to come to the first house, Yarne’s. However, it was there soon enough, and Minerva landed gently a few feet away. Cherche grabbed the blanket out of her basket and crept toward the door. The house was sure to be almost abandoned—Panne had disappeared mysteriously sometime, and Gregor slept like a rock. Sure enough, they didn’t mind when she gently pushed the window open, placing the present on the counter, and shutting the window. 

The next house, not terribly far away, was Kjelle’s. Sully had married Kellam, but he’d disappeared as well. That was normal for him, sure, but it didn’t seem routine, and the family had been grieving for years. This house had no windows, Cherche noted, so she had to gently maneuver Minerva to the roof. At first she was about to order Minerva to land, but a look at the ill-repaired, thatched roof told her that it wouldn’t work terribly well. Luckily, the armor-cleaning kit was durable, so it could be dropped into the hearth, which wasn’t on, to be picked up the next morning. A gentle thump resounded, and a light turned on in the house. The gentle sound of Sully swearing floated up through the chimney, but it stopped once she and Kjelle realized what happened. Sully burst outside, and Cherche flew up, so all they’d be able to distinguish was a flying object. Hopefully, little Kjelle would think it was Santa Claus—but at least she had something for Christmas this year. 

After this was Laurent. Miriel and Lon’qu still lived with him, but Lon’qu had been horribly injured in the last battle—they could certainly use a little bit of Christmas cheer. Minerva landed, and Cherche stepped out to look at where this present could be placed. The windows wouldn’t open, Cherche found, and the hearth was on, so she didn’t want to risk placing the book there. However, they did have a small box on the side of their house for missives to be placed in, so Cherche slid it there and left. 

Next up was Nah. Both Donnel and Nowi were alive and well, but they were gone so often that Nah didn’t really have good, present parent figures. It was tragic, especially since she aged much more slowly as a manakete. It couldn’t be helped, and it wasn’t the fault of Nowi or Donnel, but it took something out of the relationship. Cheer was scarce. Hopefully this would make it a little better. Luckily, the window was open just enough for Cherche to get the wrapped package in, and go away, but Nah was awake and had managed to run out just in time to see Minerva fly away. 

The rest of the recipients of gifts lived in the castle, and Cherche knew that she had no hope of creeping in to get the gifts to people. The palace guard would arrest her on sight. So she’d have to adopt a less stealthy approach and simply went to the door.

“State your business,” the guards ordered firmly, pointing their spears at her. 

“I’m Cherche. Chrom knows me. I fought with him for a time. However, I’d prefer he not know I was here. Could you just please give these gifts to the children? Names are on them. Please just tell them they were from Santa Claus, okay? I’d come in and deliver them myself but I doubt that I’d be allowed.” The soldier looked at the packages suspiciously and opened Lucina’s. Finding only a sketchbook, he let it go, and ordered an attendant to bring them to the children. “Thank you. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” the soldier replied, watching Cherche fly back to her home. The last thing she did was place the stuffed wyvern on Gerome’s dresser before going to bed and collapsing, sleeping late into the morning. 

\----

The next morning, none of the royal adults could really figure out what had happened. The children in the palace had been running around, proudly displaying their new toys and presents that had been mysteriously placed in their rooms at night. Morgan was running around the castle, holding her stuffed toy tight, gleeful, and smiling, and her older sister Cynthia was tucked in a corner, reading. Sounds of violin music resonated from the next room, and Owain and Inigo were reading busily as well. Lucina was sitting quietly, sketching, and the adults in the castle had no idea what to make of it. The presents hadn’t come from any of them—most of them were too busy with war to have the ability to even think about giving presents, and the castle’s coffers were almost empty, so no one else could have done it. It simply was unprecedented. And no one knew exactly how it happened.

\----

Sully examined the armor cleaning kit that had been dropped down their chimney with confusion, having no idea how that managed to get there. Little Kjelle kept insisting that she’d seen Santa Claus fly away, and Sully had seen something, but…it surely couldn’t be Santa. It was a myth, something used to give children a bit of happiness in the holiday season. But Sully knew she didn’t get it for Kjelle, sadly enough. They didn’t have anything to spare. The question remained, though—who got it?

\----

When Laurent had found the book in their message box, Miriel had been bewildered. It defied all logic, all reason. Who would masquerade as Santa simply to give a book to a quiet child who no one really knew? Laurent insisted on bringing it to Lon’qu, who was unable to get out of bed, and gleefully reading to him from it. Lon’qu truthfully enough wasn’t terribly interested in the book, but he listened and smiled because he hadn’t seen Laurent this happy in years. And Miriel decided that maybe there didn’t have to be a logical explanation for this. Maybe it didn’t need to make sense. 

Maybe Laurent’s happiness was enough.

\----

Gregor had never believed in Santa Claus. It had never really been a possibility in his mind. A spirit who flew through the sky giving presents to children with nothing in return? Impossible. No one would do that. But he’d found the blanket, with a note saying it was from Santa, and he certainly hadn’t put it there. So few people knew where they lived…Gregor couldn’t figure out who brought it. But seeing Yarne, who’d been incredibly anxious and sad since Panne disappeared, cuddle up under the blanket and smile, made Gregor happy enough that he started unconsciously attributing the gift to Santa Claus’s benevolence. Honestly, at this point, he’d take a miracle.

\----

Donnel didn’t know how the ribbons for his daughter’s hair got there, but both Nah and Nowi had adored them, and Nowi had taken it upon herself to braid her daughter’s hair and tie them with the wonderful, soft ribbons. Seeing the two girls smile at each other and bond like they hadn’t in forever made him smile. He’d always sort of believed in Santa, to be honest, and this was just confirmation that the spirit managed to make it around when he was needed most.

\---

For her part, Cherche had woken up exhausted after far too little sleep, and the grumbling of her stomach made her briefly wonder why she’d done this, why she’d even bothered. But Gerome ran into her room, gleefully showing her the Minerva doll, insisting that she go out and show it to the real Minerva, and she knew why. The grin on Gerome’s face was priceless, and knowing that she’d done something similar for all the children and all their parents was payment enough. It really had made their Christmas a bright spot in their dark world.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out [ stripperannie's blog ](http://disgustingweeabootrash.tumblr.com) and check out [mine](http://kireii-yume.tumblr.com) while you're at it!


End file.
